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Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former director of policy planning in the US State Department (2009-2011), is President and CEO of the think tank New America, Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, and the author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family.

What a totally laughable perspective reflecting zero comprehension of Palestinian position and Middle East politics. And Slaughter was a State Dept. official? And a professor of International Affairs at Princeton. Government and academic standards must be very low.

"It's perfectly obvious to anybody with half a brain and no agenda that, to paraphrase what Netanyahu actually said, there can be no two-state solution until the PLA renounces its commitment to the destruction of Israel."

"Netanyahu is simply being a realist. There cannot be an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians because that is not the Arab end game. They do not want peace with Israel -- they want the destruction of Israel and the total exclusion of Jews from the Middle East."

As one of the "leftists" Mr. Birnbaum mentions below whose head has not yet exploded, I find myself wishing that the political Right's legions of self-proclaimed experts could at least get a consistent story lined up for a change.

Meanwhile, one of the "facts" that needs to be absorbed by many of the commenters here is that Israel has lost a lot of traditionally reliable support from the left in the last month. We'll have to see if that matters.

What utter nonsense. It's perfectly obvious to anybody with half a brain and no agenda that, to paraphrase what Netanyahu actually said, there can be no two-state solution until the PLA renounces its commitment to the destruction of Israel.

I'm not sure of what you mean. If there is no two-State solution, then the solution is one-State? You realize that Jews will be a minority in that State, do you?

Or you think that a 50 year long occupation is not enough and, maybe, Palestinians will suddently fall in love with their occupyer after 60 or 70 years of occupation so let's wait and see and occupy for one more generation?

But when does it end? And how?

Besides saying that the Palestinians form a bad people that doesn't deserve to have its country, I don't understand what kind of future you foresee and what you propose.

Ms. Slaughter says: "Israel is a special and vibrant country, filled with talented, hard-working, and committed people who have much to contribute to the world". Then why is it that she thinks she knows what's best for Israel despite the overwhelming verdict just rendered by the Israeli public? It's because like most of the leftists whose heads are now exploding over King Bibi's resurrection, she is a narcissistic ideologue, who, when facts contradict their ideology, chose to ignore the facts.

Once they are thru with their post-election hissy-fit, know-nothing whiners like Ms. Slaughter will hopefully fade back into the woodwork, and Israelis can continue to build their world-class democracy.

Anne-Marie Slaughter is right about "it is too late for clarifications". Palestinians will not forget what Benjamin Netanyahu said last week. Although he has retracted some politically harmful statements and apologised for some - viewed by Arab Israelis as - disdainful remarks, he can't just adopt the business-as-usual mode again, as if nothing had happened. The "tragedy" is that it could drive "both sides into a cycle of action and reaction that ultimately will make impossible a negotiated two-state solution". If the conflict drags on, Palestinians "will most likely turn again to violence: a third intifada".
There are good reasons to fear that a third intifada could be far more bloody than the uprisings that we have seen before. This means both Palestinian and Israeli leaders should prevent it from happening. Unfortunately Netanyahu's recent rhetoric had only inflamed it.
Some of the outward signs are not encouraging. Politicians like Avigdor Lieberman sees Israel's 1.4 million Arab citizens as the "fifth column" and continues to push them into a corner. Gaza had been bombed to smithereens and more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed and 18,000 homes destroyed. Six months after the ceasefire between the Israel and Hamas tens of thousands of people still have no shelter and lack essential amenities like water and electricity. In October last year, international donors pledged billions of dollars for rebuilding Gaza, but little of the money has arrived. Israel has expressed concern that the money would be used by Hamas to rearm and to rebuild tunnels. And it's policy of building settlements in occupied territory continues.
Many of Netanyahu's right-wing supporters had demanded the re-conquest of Gaza. This would escalate the conflict. Although airstrikes last summer had destroyed much of Hamas military capabilities, it would not be a problem for them to relaunch rockets on their enemies. "Israel will have no option but to repeat the horrors of recent Gaza wars on a much larger scale". With violence spiralling out of control, Israel will only face more international condemnation and isolation.﻿

Netanyahu is simply being a realist. There cannot be an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians because that is not the Arab end game. They do not want peace with Israel -- they want the destruction of Israel and the total exclusion of Jews from the Middle East. How may time during the 20th century did Palestinians balk at the last minute when a deal had been crafted? Unfortunately, as this article shows, they are losing the propaganda battle. It would help if, while chastising Israel, Ms. Slaughter and her ilk at least mention the intransigence of Palestinians as an obstacle to peace.

The state of Palestine - like Kurdistan - will inevitably become a political reality in the short term; Bibi will no longer make Obama suffer the fools errands of Likud Party and its leadership.
The cat is finally out of the bag - no more Palestine!

Rights should be the basis of negotiations, not demands. The Palestinians have a right to the 1967 borders, a right to East Jerusalem, and a right of return for the victims of Israel's ethnic cleansing of 1948.

The good new for Palestinians is that Netanyahu won. He is a wulf, while the Israeli left is a wulf in sheepskin, it wants peace, but it always lets Zionist ideology prevail. The Zionist Camp slaughtered Palestinians in 2008/9 just like Netanyahu did in 2014.

Israel may or may not be increasingly isolated in the world community. For me that remains to be seen. What is absolutely clear is that the US government allows for Israel to continue its policies barely without censure and certainly not restricting the absolutely massive funds awarded to the state of Israel. The words of peace rarely translate into action reconciliation and genuine hope.

I missed the second and third scenarios unless hey were implied. What about the scenario of a one-state solution, initially with no political rights for Palestinians (in other words more or less the status quo) , but ultimately, through internal and international pressure, a single state with political and human rights for all, maybe 10-15 years from now? Let's forget the two state fantasy. It's not going to happen and it does not make geographic, economic or hydrologic sense. The end game is a one state solution and no purely Jewish state. Get used to it

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